Provenance

Originally with a member of the Wodehouse family, Kimberley, Norfolk, England [see note 1]. Early 20th century, purchased at Acton Surrey, Bond Street, London by Elizabeth Day McCormick (b. 1873 - d. 1957), Chicago [see note 2]; 1943, gift of McCormick to the MFA. (Accession date: October 14, 1943)

NOTES:
[1] Possibly worn by Grizell Wodehouse (d. 1635), the wife of Sir Philip Wodehouse. According to family legend, the jacket belonged to Queen Elizabeth and was given as a gift when she visited the Kimberly estate in 1578 for the knighting of Roger Wodehouse (d. 1588), Phillip's father. (See the "Elizabethan Inventories" by Leonard G. Bolingbroke, pg. 93; also, G. Townsend, MFA Bulletin, vol. XL, no. 238, April 1942, pg. 25-36). There is no evidence, however, that this provenance is true, particularly since the garment probably dates to after the queen's death.

[2] According to a December 14th, 1941 letter from Elizabeth Day McCormick to Gertrude Townsend, the garment was said to be part of the "Kimberley Collection."